Turning Tables
by drcjsnider
Summary: Rose and Scorpius are competitive and now they are both working at the Leaky Cauldron.


Author's/Artist's notes: Written for i_am_girlfriday's birthday in 2011, but I only finished it in August 2013. I'm such a bum.

Rose Weasley's feet hurt, her hair smelled like stale butterbeer, and she had a mustard stain on the back of the too short denim skirt that was the standard waitress uniform at The Leaky Cauldron. To make matters worse, it was Thursday night, the most pitiful night of the week when it came to making tips. Thursday nights were when all the younger witches and wizards hit the pubs to get a head start on the weekend. They usually didn't bother ordering food, stayed for hours taking up valuable table space, and spent what little money they had on cheap booze. You were lucky to bring home 10% of evening's receipts on a Thursday night.

Rounding out the awfulness of the evening was the fact that her fellow server was Scorpius Malfoy. Malfoy was the most devious waiter Rose had ever had the misfortune to work with. He flirted with the hostess so he got the best tables and the most prosperous looking customers, he stole other people's orders so that his tables got their food and drinks quicker, and he continually pushed unwanted tasks on his fellow servers. "Refill the salt on table four for me, luv." "Grab a new order pad for me from behind the counter, sweetheart." "Be a doll and Evanesco the vomit from the men's restroom for me."

After three months of working with him, Rose now just told him to go fuck himself every time he tried to trade tables or foist some of his work on her. Scorpius' typical response was to smirk and reply that if anyone needed a good fuck it was Rose. Their attitudes hadn't made for the most comfortable of working situations. Nevertheless, their boss, Hannah Longbottom, hadn't done more than reprimand them since combined they were her most popular and efficient wait staff.

Rose leaned against the bar next to her cousin Albus and glared at the back of Scorpius' head.

"If you hate him so much, why don't just work different shifts?"

"I need all the hours I can get if I'm ever going to afford my own flat."

"Is living with Molly really that bad?"

"Worse. She would make Voldemort look like a laid back, easy-going chap."

Albus chuckled and turned back to his drink.

Rose clenched her teeth as she watched as Cora Pappas, the hostess, sat the third straight group at a table in Scorpius' section. With eyes narrowed, she waylaid Cora before she made it to the front of the pub. "What's the deal?"

"Hum?"

"Why are you seating everyone in Malfoy's section?"

"Because you are on break."

"I'm not on a break!"

"But Scorpius told me—"

"Forget it," Rose interrupted, knowing that Scorpius had lied to Cora in order to get his tables full at her expense. "I want the next three groups."

"Rose, you know that is against the rules."

"Cora, you know Malfoy is a slimy git."

Cora rolled her eyes. "I'll give you the next two groups, but that's it. I don't want to be drug into whatever grudge you have against Scorpius."

"Thank you," Rose replied, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. One of the cardinal rules of being a successful server was not pissing off the hostess. "I know you try your best to be fair."

As Rose headed back toward the bar, Scorpius walked passed her with a tray of drinks. "Weasley, the food for table six just came up. Be a doll and take it out for me."

"Fuck off."

"Hey, it's not like you are doing anything else."

Rose rounded on him. She spoke in a harsh whisper to keep from attracting Hannah's attention. "You are a sneaky, no-good, immoral tosser. I hope you choke on a menu and die slowly and painfully in a pool of your own bile."

Scorpius quirked an eyebrow and gave Rose a superior-looking smile. "If you can't stand the competition, stay off of the dance floor."

"What? What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm telling you, in the nicest way possible, that I'm sick of your jealousy. If you don't like watching a good server at work than find a new occupation."

Rose sputtered in anger as Scorpius turned away. She wanted to leap on his back and bang him about the head, but settled for curling her fingernails deep into the palms of her hands.

"He's pretty full of himself, huh?" Albus remarked from behind her.

"He's a pillock and I despise him," Rose replied.

"Someone should really teach him a lesson," Albus goaded, knowing Rose needed just a little encouragement to go after Malfoy.

"If I hex him, Hannah will fire me," Rose sighed.

"So don't hex him. Turn the tables on him. Engage in all the same sneaky, nefarious behavior that he does. It won't be long before he's demanding a truce."

Rose bit her lip and looked thoughtful. It wasn't in her nature to plot or act in a backhanded manner, however, she had reached the end of her patience. Albus was right, it was time that Scorpius Malfoy learned he wasn't the only capable server at the Leakey Cauldron.

-0-0-0-

Five minutes later, when Cora seated a group of three broom salesmen at one of Rose's tables, she was ready. A quick transfiguration spell had turned her lose white tee into a tight ribbed tank top. Some heavy eyeliner and dark lipstick brightened her normally subdued makeup and she'd released her hair from its messy bun so it curled wildly around her face. "How do I look?" she asked Albus.

"Like a tart."

She laughed with pleasure. "Just the look I need to win some tips away from Malfoy."

As she'd suspected, the wizard's in her section appreciated her attire. She flirted playfully and convinced them to order drinks and an appetizer with their meals. When Cora next seated her section, however, Rose's smile faded. It was a large group of Auror trainees who showed up every week, took up two tables, ordered the cheapest alcohol available and tipped with whatever measly change was left at the end of the evening.

"Awe," Scorpius commented in a mocking tone of fake sympathy, "so sorry you ended up with the cheapskates."

Rose glared at him and slowly ground her teeth together. Malfoy had a well-known aversion for the Auror trainees and somehow managed to always avoid waiting on them. Rose expected him to add some other snarky comment about her bad luck, but when he stayed silent she turned her head to discover that he was looking over her shoulder and down the front of her top. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Scorpius grinned. "I think I can see your bellybutton."

Rose elbowed him in the stomach. When he grunted and stepped back she grabbed her tray and took drinks over to the businessmen. As she was setting down their beverages, the solution to turning the trainee table setback to her advantage walked into the pub in the form of her cousin Lily and three of her good-looking girlfriends.

Loyal to a fault, Lily always requested a table in Rose's section. Tonight, however, Rose waylaid her and demanded that she ask to be seated in the back of Scorpius' section. Any other girl might have demanded to know why, but Lily was so sweet that she just smiled and agreed.

Lily's table now formed a triangle with the businessmen's table and the trainees' table. All it took was for Rose to introduce everyone and what had been three separate parties turned into a general revelry with the businessmen picking up most of the tab. This occurrence not only deprived Scorpius of any big orders from Lily's table, but also made Rose everyone's new best friend for having brought them all together and for keeping the alcohol flowing.

Twenty minutes later when she noticed a couple of her Uncle George's clerks sitting in Scorpius section and casting envious glances at the larger group, Rose stole them away before Scorpius even had a chance to greet them.

As the night wore on and Scorpius lost more tables and good tipping customers to Rose, he started to lose his cool and collected demeanor. "This doesn't prove anything," he hissed as Rose walked by with a tray full of drinks.

She shot him a look of pity. "I'm pretty sure it proves something."

Scorpius' eyes raked her body before settling on her cleavage. "It just proves you are skilled at using sexual manipulation to interfere with the free flow of commerce."

"Sexual manipulation?" Rose laughed. "I like the sound of that." She gave Scorpius a sly wink before hurrying off to serve her customers.

By the time last call was announced, Rose was exhausted, but she'd tripled her usual Thursday night tips and finally turned the tables on Scorpius. Now he knew what it was like to have to work with an unscrupulous co-worker.

She walked over to his section while he wiped down his tables, "Malfoy be a doll and refill my napkins when you are done."

"Fuck off, Weasley," he growled.

She grinned. "Don't pout. The only thing you have going for yourself is your pretty face and now you are screwing that up."

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Whatever. We need to come to some sort of understanding."

"An understanding about what?" Rose asked cautiously.

"About working together in the future."

"Oh," she cooed. "Are you going to quit?"

"What? No! I was thinking we could cooperate in the future rather than work against each other."

Rose snorted. "Why should I? I did spectacular tonight without cooperating with you."

"But just think of what we could do working together instead of against each other. With my talent and your assets," his gaze focused on her breasts, "we could rake in some serious money."

"Serious money sounds good and you are good a good waiter," Rose admitted stepping closer to Scorpius. "You're even kind of cute. But I don't like you and I really don't trust you, so there will be no 'Scrose' serving team in your future."

She turned to walk away, but Scorpius caught her hand. "I'm going to work on changing your mind."

"Why?" Rose asked, trying to shake free.

"Because now that I've got the idea of a profitable partnership between us in mind and I'm not going to piss it away. Besides," he gave her a cocky grin, "I think you're kind of cute too."

The End


End file.
